TOP HAT (1935)

The 1935 Hays Code-era Astaire & Rogers musical TOP HAT features three queer-coded side characters.

TOP HAT

1935. USA.

Director:Mark Sandrich

Screenplay: Allan Scott & Dwight Taylor

Based on: “A Scandal in Budapest” (1911) by Alexander Faragó and Aladar Laszlo

Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett, Erik Rhodes, Helen Broderick & Eric Blore

TOP HAT is an Irving Berlin musical in which Fred Astaire unsuccessfully woos Ginger Rogers, until the end of course when they both dance off into the sunset together.

In the film, Astaire rooms in a hotel with his friend Horace and the man’s valet Bates (Erik Rhodes). While Astaire pursues Rogers, who is there to model Italian designer Bedinni’s dresses, Horace (Horton) attempts to avoid his wife and finds himself in a number of awkward situations.

Queerness turned to subtext during the reign of the Hays Code, which began a year earlier in the summer of 1934. Actors like Edward Everett Horton and Erik Rhodes became known for playing queer-coded “sissy” characters. They tended to live a sexless existence, even if married, and were never as “masculine” as the leading man.

Initially, the censors missed a lot of queer moments – unless the characters were extremely obvious “pansy” stereotypes shrieking their trademark “wooo,” mentioning “lavender,” or fussing over dresses and drapery. Still, it’s surprising that two especially queer bits made it into the film: Fred Astaire lovingly/jokingly refers to Horace as “Angel” when the two men are asked to give up the hotel’s bridal suite – and Horace’s wife later watches in amusement while her husband becomes flustered after receiving affection from another man.

If you’re curious about what early queer-coding looked like during the Hays Code, or just want to check out a couple great Astaire/Rogers dance numbers, you can find TOP HAT streaming on BBC iPlayer (UK), for rent/purchase on AppleTV and Amazon, and also available on DVD.